# 9
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Matthias raised his handsome eyebrow in surprise.
Lean elegantly against the back of the chair.
“Miss Elinor seems to like getting straight to the point.”
"Because it's not something that can be hidden. I don't like ineffective methods."
“So, what does Miss Elinor think is effective?”
“Instead of the child, I will be the one to give you what you want.”
A smile appeared on Matthias's lips.
He gestured with his head as if to say continue.
“You didn't come to this rural village looking for me.”
“Why? Perhaps I came to invite you because I covet the abilities of Miss Elinor, the treasure of the empire.”
"If that were the case, the Duke's family would have approached me earlier. Even if I was interested, the Imperial Family also offered me, so you would have taken a step back. Of course, that's not important now."
"correct."
“If I dare to guess, you failed to find Charles, so you came to use the child as a next step, right?”
“…That’s true too.”
Matthias' smile deepened.
“You are so clever, Miss Elinor. So clever that I want to use my hands.”
It was a slightly scary smile just to be called beautiful.
But Elinor did not tremble.
Since she decided to cooperate with him, there was nothing to scare her.
“Use me instead of the kid. It will be better.”
“You mean you're more important to Charlotte than the baby?”
“Why do you think you failed to find Charles?”
Matthias's question was difficult to answer.
Instead of responding to his answer, Elinor asked him in return.
“With the power of your information I found my accommodation with the help of the Magic Tower.”
“Well, it seems Miss Elinor knows the answer.”
“In my opinion, Charles possesses the grace of a ruler now.”
Only then did Mathias' eyes shine with interest.
His body, which was leaning against the back of the chair, straightened.
“You have a holy relic?”
“Yes. A Ruler’s Blessing has a special effect. It completely erases the trace of its bearer from people, preventing his presence from being detected.”
If even Matthias's information network couldn't pick it up, what was left was only the holy relic.
In the original story, Elinor and Charlotte's relationship never recovers.
The older sister tried to kill the younger one, and the younger one had to escape from her.
Charlotte then used the holy relic “Blessing of a Ruler.”
If you possess the blessing of a ruler, even the person next to you will not notice the bearer.
It is a kind of protective device that completely erases existence.
Charlotte used this power to safely escape from her sister, who was seeking to kill her.
“Right, I ran away with that Holy Knight...”
Matthias mumbled quietly.
Since Alexis, who eloped with Charlotte, is a holy knight working at the temple, he seemed to consider the guess logical.
Matthias looked directly at Elinor.
“But if Charlotte is using the relic to escape, then you also don't have a clear way to find her, do you?”
“That's true, but I have other information.”
“Other information?”
“The letters I exchanged with Charles during the seven years at the academy.”
'Actually, they are not letters, but rather my knowledge of the future in the original story.'
From the moment Charlotte escapes with a secondary character instead of the hero, the original story has already collapsed.
But this does not mean that all information has become uess.
Elinor decides to use this information to cooperate with Matthias.
‘Since my residence has been discovered, escaping from the Duke is impossible.’
If she had the blessing of a ruler, things would be different.
The power of the Holy Relic could not even be confronted by the Evil Duke.
But reaching a holy relic for Eleanor, who is neither a hero nor a candidate for sainthood, is essentially impossible.
'Basically, the Duke's target is not the child.'
He just wants to use the baby to get back the lost Charlotte.
'Then there is no need to put the child in danger.'
If Elinor offered what he wanted instead of the child, that would be enough.
‘I’m worried about today being the day he actually finds Charles… but at least he’s pretending to be obedient in front of the heroine, so he’ll be fine.’
In addition, Elinor's goals partly coincided with Matthias's.
She also needs to find Charlotte.
To return her baby to her arms.
Now, she is protecting the child from her parents who want to kill him, but she is not the real mother, so she cannot act as a parent for life.
The child needs more than anything the mother who gave birth to him.
“I know things that Charles didn't even tell her parents.”
Elinor whispered confidentially.
enough to attract Matthias' interest.
“Such as the places she wants to visit with her lover in the future, the type of wedding she dreams of, the romance she hopes for, etc.”
“You are providing these small details as information now?”
"Charles loves these small, minute details. It's been her wish list since childhood."
Elinor added, shrugging her shoulders.
“Since she is covering her tracks with the blessing of a ruler, she believes that my parents will not find her. So, she will definitely be fulfilling her old wishes one by one. If we trace her, we might find her.”
“They…”
“And a loophole will eventually appear. 24-hour existence cannot be hidden by a sacred trace. Unless you steal, you will need to buy food, and unless you sleep on the street, you will need housing. We can catch that loophole.”
Matthias lost himf in thought.
Elinor fiddled with her clenched hands nervously as she waited for his reaction.
She looked confident on the outside, but was nervous on the inside.
“Not a bad way.”
“Of course, assuming the information is correct. How can I trust that you are not giving me false information? If I heard that Charlotte dreamed of visiting a kingdom across the sea, and she crossed the sea, and you were not there, and you disappeared as well?”
“…You can find me again easily.”
“But if I find out I was deceived, I will be very angry.”
Matthias smiled coldly.
It was as if the ambient temperature had dropped by five degrees.
“How about that, Miss Elinor?”
Elinor, trembling slightly, took a small notebook and pen from the pocket of her skirt.
I quickly wrote something on a blank page.
The length was not great.
Elinor tore out the page after writing and presented it to Matthias.
“Check this first.”
Mathias raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Elinor said confidently.
“See if my information is useful or not. You have followers you brought with you, right? Give it to someone to check, and you can keep an eye on me to prevent my escape. Or vice versa if you want.”
“…Is Miss Elinor always so bold?”
“I'm not afraid of things I can handle.”
“Hah. Ha-ha-ha.”
Matthias burst out laughing loudly.
After laughing excitedly for a while, he raised the corner of his mouth and said.
“Sure, you're a researcher. You're thinking of using me as a guinea pig.”
“…That wasn't exactly my intention.”
"Okay. I'll play lab rat as you want."
Matthias slowly leaned forward and clasped his hands.
“I will keep an eye on Miss Elinor myf.”
At that moment, it was decided that they would live together temporarily.